How to enable YouTube downloads feature in the SaveClipX extension Edge Add-ons
The version of SaveClipX published on Edge Add ons and other browser stores leaves YouTube out, because store rules ask us to. A small separate add on puts the YouTube save button back, and installing it takes about a minute.
Why YouTube is missing from the store version
Browser stores do not allow an extension that saves video from YouTube. To keep SaveClipX available on Microsoft Edge Add ons and the other browser catalogues, the published version ships with YouTube support removed entirely.
Everything else is untouched. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, Threads, Reddit, Pinterest, Vimeo, Rumble, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Tumblr, Dailymotion, Douyin and Bilibili all still get the one click save button, along with transcripts, dubbing, meeting notes and the rest of the toolkit.
If you want the YouTube save button back on top of the store version, you add a second small piece yourself. It is free, it is the same code we write for the main extension, and it lives on your machine only.
Step 1, download the YouTube add on
Grab the file here: Download the SaveClipX YouTube add on
It is a small ZIP, around 350 KB. Save it somewhere you will find again, your Downloads folder is fine.
Then unzip it. You should end up with a single folder named saveclipx-youtube-addon holding a manifest file and a handful of scripts. Keep that folder where it is, because your browser reads the add on from that location every time it starts.
Step 2, open the extensions page in your browser
In Microsoft Edge, type edge://extensions in the address bar and press Enter.
In Chrome, Brave or Opera, type chrome://extensions instead.
You cannot click a link to reach these pages, browsers block that on purpose. Typing the address yourself is the only way in.
Step 3, turn on developer mode
On Edge, flip the Developer mode switch in the bottom left of that page. On Chrome, Brave and Opera the same switch sits in the top right.
This only tells the browser you are allowed to load an add on from your own disk instead of a store. It changes nothing else about how your browser behaves, and you can switch it off later without removing the add on.
Step 4, load the unpacked folder
Click Load unpacked, then pick the saveclipx-youtube-addon folder you unzipped. Select the folder itself, not a file inside it.
The SaveClipX YouTube add on now appears in your list. Pin it if you like, though you do not need to, the save button shows up on the video page itself.
If the browser complains that the manifest is missing, you almost certainly selected the outer folder that contains the unzipped folder. Go one level deeper and try again.
Step 5, save your first YouTube video
Open any public YouTube video and refresh the page once, so the newly installed add on can attach itself.
A SaveClipX save pill appears near the player. Click it and the video opens in SaveClipX with every available quality listed, highest first, including 4K when the source holds it.
Right click a video, a link or the page and you also get the quality menu straight away, best quality, 1080p, 720p, MP3 audio, SRT subtitles, dub this video, or add to queue. Alt and Y saves whatever is playing in the current tab.
What the add on can and cannot do
It works on public videos, Shorts, YouTube Music links and live recordings that have finished. Private, unlisted with no link, members only, age walled and paid videos stay out of reach, because those need a login we do not have and should not ask for.
Nothing is stored on our side. The file streams from the source through to your browser, and your history of saves stays in your own browser, never on a server.
The add on runs on YouTube pages only. It does not touch any other site, and it does not replace the main extension, the two sit happily side by side.
If you would rather not install anything
You do not have to. Paste any YouTube link into the box on the YouTube downloader page and you get the same file, the same qualities and the same speed, with no add on at all.
The same goes for MP3 audio, 4K video, subtitles, thumbnails and transcripts. The add on only saves you the copy and paste.
Keeping it up to date
Because the add on is loaded from your own disk, it does not update itself. When we ship a new version, download the ZIP again, unzip it over the old folder, then press the refresh arrow on the add on card in your extensions page.
The main browser extension installed from a store does update itself as normal.